The Palace of Westminster, seat of the Parliament of the United Kingdom (Photo: Javier Otero, CC BY-SA 3.0)

Today in History

• The first English parliament to include representatives of major towns rather than just lords meets in the Palace of Westminster, commonly called the Houses of Parliament (1265)
• The main part of the First Fleet reaches Botany Bay, Australia (1788)
• Hong Kong island is occupied by the British (1841)
• The US Navy is authorized to lease Pearl Harbor as a base (1887)
• The ACLU is founded (1920)
• Edward VIII becomes king of the United Kingdom (1936)
• The Wannsee Conference plans the “final solution to the Jewish question” (1942)
• The National Negro Radio Network is established (1954)
• Pakistan launches its nuclear weapons program (1972)
• Iran releases 52 American hostages (1981)
• Martin Luther King, Jr., Day is celebrated as a US federal holiday for the first time (1986)

The US Presidential Inauguration Day is held every four years in odd-numbered years on January 20 unless it is a Sunday. The following US Presidents took office on January 20:

• 1937 — Franklin D. Roosevelt (second term)
• 1949 — Harry S. Truman
• 1953 — Dwight D. Eisenhower
• 1961 — John F. Kennedy
• 1981 — Ronald Reagan
• 2001 — George W. Bush
• 2009 — Barack Obama
• 2017 — Donald Trump

Birthdays

• Harold Gray, cartoonist who created Little Orphan Annie (1894)
• George Burns, comedian and actor (1896)
• Colin Clive, actor (1900)
• Aristotle Onassis, shipping magnate (1906)
• Joy Adamson, author of Born Free (1910)
• Federico Fellini, filmmaker (1920)
• DeForest Kelley, actor (1920)
• Slim Whitman, country musician (1923)
• Patricia Neal, actress (1926)
• Arte Johnson, actor and comedian (1929)
• Buzz Aldrin, astronaut (1930)
• Tom Baker, played the Fourth Doctor (1934)
• Dorothy Provine, actress, singer, and dancer (1935)
• David Lynch, filmmaker (1946)
• Paul Stanley, member of Kiss (1952)
• Bill Maher, comedian and political commentator (1956)
• Lorenzo Lamas, actor (1958)
• Rainn Wilson, actor (1966)

Deaths

• David Garrick, actor and theater manager (1779)
• George V, monarch of the UK (1936)
• Johnny Weissmuller, swimmer and actor (1984)
• Barbara Stanwyck, actress (1990)
• Audrey Hepburn, actress (1993)
• Al Herschfeld, illustrator (2003)
• Etta James, singer-songwriter (2012)

Holidays and Celebrations

• Armed Forces Day (Mali)
• Army Day (Laos)
• Heroes’ Day (Cape Verde)
• Martyr’s Day (Azerbaijan)

January 20 is the 20th day of the year. There are 345 days (346 in leap years) remaining until the end of the year.